I spent the last week in Quito, Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands with my mom, dad, and sister. Our first few days we're spent in Quito visiting beautiful churches, celebrating their Independence Day, and even venturing to the "mitad del mundo", middle of the world, where we stood on the equator with one foot in each hemisphere. We then flew to the Galápagos Islands and boarded the Celebrity Xpedition cruise to explore all the beauty of the islands. Our days consisted of walks or boat rides on different islands, snorkeling, and lots of delicious food. Throughout the week we visited the islands of Baltra, Isabela, Santiago, Santa Cruz, North Seymour, Daphne, and San Cristobal. Some of the highlights included:
-Walking on all the different sand beaches including Rabida, the red sand island, black sand, and white sand islands
-Snorkeling with Galápagos penguins (they swim so fast), tortoises, and even some white tipped sharks and reef sharks (I was terrified and had to hold my sisters hand...but we made it out alive)
-Seeing giant land tortoises in their natural habitat (there are only two places in the world you can do this: Galápagos and the Seychelles), they grow to be over 100 years old and over 500 pounds...definitely living up to their name!
-Watching blue footed boobies dive in the water like torpedoes to hunt
-Walking on lava
-Viewing Darwin's lake from all different angles, it's beautiful
-Finding sea lions in all kinds of places including on boats, in the fish market, on benches, curled up on the beach, etc.
-Planting scalesia and Galápagos coffee plants to help with the reforestation efforts in the islands
The Galápagos Islands are truly a unique and magical place; I feel so thankful that I got to go with my family!
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